Letter to the Editor: Monitoring group outlines its goals for juvenile home

Jul. 27, 2013

Disability Rights Iowa has spent the last eight months monitoring the Iowa Juvenile Home. Some of our findings have been outlined in recent articles by the Register’s Clark Kauffman.

Our current advocacy plan includes a multi-pronged approach to correcting some of these issues:

• Development of a culture that is sensitive to the impact of trauma and committed to understanding its effects on young people. A leadership team committed to these values while providing support to staff trained in best practices rooted in the understanding of trauma will help create this cultural shift.

Our understanding is that the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and the National Center for Trauma Informed Care are willing to provide free assistance to the state if asked. The state should take advantage of this resource.

• Working with the Legislature to revise the Iowa statutes to:

More accurately reflect the needs of the foster children served at the Iowa Juvenile Home.

Mandate that the facility be licensed and overseen by the Department of Inspections and Appeals.

Shift responsibility for the school from the Department of Human Services to the Department of Education.

• Working with the Department of Human Services to adopt restraint and seclusion regulations governing the Iowa Juvenile Home that are consistent with the Iowa Administrative Code regulations governing private mental health providers for children.

Ultimately, youth should be served in community integrated settings to develop natural supports and linkages to education and work. In addition, providing services for people with disabilities outside of an institutional setting is more cost-effective than providing care in an institution.

Disability Rights Iowa will continue to partner with the state, Iowa providers, national experts and other stakeholders to bring this vision to reality.